ANDREA KING, a retired Findlay City Schools principal, spoke to students at Bigelow Hill Intermediate School about her participation in the 1963 march on Washington, D.C., where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. Several Findlay teachers incorporated lessons on Martin Luther King into their curriculum to teach students about the civil rights movement and why America celebrates Martin Luther King Day. (Photo by Randy Roberts)

By SARA ARTHURS
Staff Writer
Half a century after the civil rights movement, area educators are working to ensure that Martin Luther King’s dream is not forgotten.
In anticipation of Martin Luther King Day, the national holiday celebrated today, many area schools held activities related to the subject last week.
Retired Findlay City Schools principal Andrea King spoke to students at Bigelow Hill Intermediate School on Friday about her experience seeing King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
King, who started her talk by saying she is no relation to Martin Luther King, was 16 at the time.
She said Martin Luther King would have turned 85 on Jan. 15. It’s rare that the birthday of an ordinary person is made into a holiday, but she said the students should think of it not just as a day off of school but a day to honor King’s dream.
Andrea King grew up in Chicago and said that her experience as an African-American youth was different than her relatives who lived in the South. She would travel to visit her cousins in the South and would learn that they couldn’t attend the schools closest to their home, couldn’t go into many restaurants and could only sit in the balcony of a theater.
As a teenager, Andrea King learned of Rosa Parks and the bus boycott that Martin Luther King was involved in at the beginning of the civil rights movement. She saw coverage of marches and sit-ins and wanted to participate.
She was able to attend the march in Washington, where King gave his iconic speech, with her pastor. At the time, she said, she had no idea she was going to be a part of something so important.
“Fifty years later people are still talking about that march,” she said.
She said people of many races all came together for the march.
“We heard the words, ‘I have a dream.’ … Those bellowed,” she said.
She told the children that in 1963 it would have been impossible for her, a black woman, to be the principal of a school.
“It didn’t happen overnight,” she said of the civil rights movement.
She told the students that they still need “to keep that dream alive.”
She then asked what would bother Martin Luther King if he were alive today. The children mentioned bullying, school shootings and murders.
“There are a lot of inequalities even today,” Andrea King said, noting that the girls in the audience may face being judged because of their gender.
Although Martin Luther King was killed, his dream lives on, she said.
“That’s what I want for you, to keep that dream alive,” she said.
At Findlay High School, special education teacher Lisa Baer read the book “My Brother Martin,” by King’s sister, Christine King Farris, on Friday. The book tells of the siblings’ childhood. Baer used it to illustrate how many of King’s values were present even in his childhood. She had the class talk about how they could use those values in their own lives.
The book tells of how, as a child, Martin Luther King would play with the child across the street but later was told they couldn’t play together because King was black.
“How would that make you guys feel?” Baer asked. The responses were “sad” and “mad.”
“Yeah, it would make me mad,” Baer said.
Farris wrote in the book that King was once a young boy and that people should realize that potential lives within each of them.
“That was years ago but there’s still a lot of things that can be done today,” Baer said.
She asked what King had valued, such as being kind and loving, being peaceful, and standing up for yourself and others if something isn’t right.
It isn’t just words, Baer said, a person must “actively work toward change.”
She then asked her students how they could use King’s values in their life, and the class talked about being kind to one’s parents and befriending another child if they see him or her being bullied.
Another special education teacher at Findlay High School, Donna Leonard, teaches about King as part of American history curriculum.
Leonard’s student Malinda Marquart, now a 16-year-old sophomore, found learning about King as a freshman particularly inspiring.
Marquart had been somewhat familiar with the civil rights movement but didn’t know many of the details until she took Leonard’s course. She was struck by how black people “couldn’t go into certain restaurants or use certain bathrooms.”
She was particularly horrified by the story of white authorities blasting black protesters with fire hoses, and using a dog “which was named after the N-word” to attack them.
Marquart, who is herself part black, found much in the class that was meaningful. The lesson is “just not to judge people,” not only by race but also not to judge by other qualities such as how the person dresses.
“We live in a world where people judge people. … (But) what’s on the outside doesn’t matter,” she said.
Leonard said many of her students didn’t know much about the civil rights movement before discussing it in class. She has had several students from multicultural backgrounds who, she said, would put themselves in the place of people back then.
Her students were eager to get more and more knowledge on the topic.
“I just couldn’t give them enough,” she said.
Leonard said it was also meaningful to teach with primary source documents such as the letters King wrote from jail.
At Glenwood and Donnell middle schools, the civil rights curriculum focuses on the novel “Mississippi Trial 1955.” The book is historical fiction written about the true story of the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy who was kidnapped, tortured, beaten and shot after allegedly whistling at a white woman.
Sherri Federici, a teacher at Donnell, said she and Glenwood teacher Sue Foltz were introduced to the book at a conference. The novel revolves around a fictional character who befriended Till.
“It’s an excellent story,” she said.
She said students can relate to Till, who was their own age.
Foltz said the novel is used to launch discussion of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Foltz said Parks, in interviews, had said that the day she refused to move from her bus Till’s murder was in the back of her mind.
On Tuesday, Foltz’ class will watch a portion of King’s speech. Her class also studies the civil rights movement and the history of the Jim Crow laws.
Federici’s students spent last week talking about Martin Luther King Jr. and read the text of his “I Have a Dream” speech in their textbook.
Federici said the typical eighth-grader may not understand what life was like during the civil rights movement. She uses a variety of methods including music that has allusions to King.
Federici also has her students write a rough draft of what they would like to see or what their own dream of a better world would be.
Arthurs: 419-427-8494 Send an E-mail to Sara Arthurs

Upcoming Events

The annual Christmas open house at the Putnam County Museum involves more than putting up a tree and pulling out a few decorations. This year, the museum will be adorned with more than 170 nativity sets. “Crèches and Choirs” will open to the public from 6-9 p.m. Friday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. Nativity scenes in all shapes and sizes have been loaned for the open house. They are now displayed throughout the rooms of the museum, which is housed in a former church at 201 E. Main St., Kalida. Sets were loaned from businesses, churches and individuals. Several historic nativities can be seen, including those from Jennings Memorial Hall in Fort Jennings, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Ottoville and St. Barbara’s Catholic Church, Cloverdale. The open house will also feature music, carols played on the parlor organ, refreshments and a sneak peek at the newly constructed annex. Admission is free. The museum is handicapped accessible.

“Coffee with a Cop” for December will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday at We Serve. Coffee, 114 E. Sandusky St., Findlay. Members of the Findlay Police Department and Hancock County Sheriff’s Office will be present. There is no agenda. It is meant to be a chance to get to know officers in the community.

The second annual Riley Creek Christmas Tour will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, including four stops along the Riley Creek near Pandora. The first stop is the Bridenbaugh One-Room Schoolhouse located at 14022 Road 6. This building is on the National Register of Historic Places and will be decorated for a 19th century Christmas. There will be refreshments and musical entertainment. The next stop is the McCullough Log Cabin at 14503 Road 6, owned by Tom and Jane McCullough of Pandora. This 2½-story log home was originally built in 1860 and is furnished primarily with 19th century furniture from Putnam County. Tom’s blacksmith/gun shop and recently reconstructed single pen log barn will also be open. Red Fox Cabin is a 1½-story log cabin built in 1853 by German immigrants and moved from West Virginia in 1995. Stop in, sit by a cozy fire and enjoy other refreshments. The cabin will be decorated with natural materials from The Quarry Farm Nature Preserve & Conservation Farm on which the cabin is located, 1/8 mile north of 14321 Road 7L. Since 1850 when it was built by pioneers, Riley Creek United Methodist Church has provided an uplifting, peaceful place for worship. The church is located northwest of Pandora at the intersection of county roads M and 7L, across from Putman Aggregates. There is no charge for this tour. Contact Peggy Bridenbaugh at 419-363-0075 for more information.

The annual children’s holiday workshop, hosted by Fostoria Community Arts Council, will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the arts council office, 125 S. Main St., Fostoria. The free workshop, under the direction of Cheryl Graves, will include a variety of holiday projects for children, first through fifth grade. For more information, or registration, contact Graves at 419-435-7474.

“The Benefits of Energy Efficiency” will be presented from 10-11 a.m. Dec. 10 at the Putnam County District Library’s Kalida-Union Township location. Zachary Hoffman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio will be the speaker.

The Bluffton/Pandora Swiss Community Historical Society Christmas Open House, “Christmas at the Homestead,” will be held from 1-6 p.m. Saturday at the Schumacher Homestead. The public is invited to tour the decorated 1843 house while snacking on homemade treats and listening to songs of the season. Guests can watch food being prepared in the fireplace, hand dip a candle, play a game of checkers, string popcorn, shop in the gift shop and chat with staff about the history of the house and typical life in the 1840s. The event is free, but donations will be accepted. The Schumacher Homestead is located at 8350 Bixel Road, Bluffton.

The Hardin County Historical Museum will present a Vintage Christmas through Dec. 30. Hours are 1-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 1:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11 and 18. The museum is located at 223 N. Main St., Kenton. Christmas at the farm museum will be held from 1-3:30 p.m. Dec. 10. The event will feature sleigh rides, the Black Swamp Buggy Club and a visit from Santa. Admission is free. The museum is located on Fairground Road, Kenton.